Did You Know Twins Can Have Different Fathers?

If you thought twins were rare, wait until you hear about twins with 2 different fathers! Yes, it is possible and has happened quite a few times in history. It is common enough (1 in 400 sets of fraternal twins) to have a term coined for it - superfecundation. Read on to know more juicy details and the mind-boggling science behind it.

A 34-year-old man from Vietnam noticed that the twins his wife gave birth to looked nothing alike. Of Course, it is possible that they were fraternal twins (non-identical ones) but upon his relatives insistence, he agreed to get a DNA test done.

The tests revealed that the man was the father of just one of the twins, and the Y- Chromosome of the other baby didn’t match with his own. Just to make sure that it wasn’t because of a mix-up at the hospital, the mother was also tested and as expected she was the biological mother of both the babies.

Keeping aside the impact this would’ve had on the family and choosing to ignore the awkward conversation that without a doubt followed, let’s find out why and how this happened.

When a woman’s egg is fertilized by sperm, she gets pregnant and when 2 eggs are fertilized, she’s pregnant with twins; Now imagine 2 eggs getting fertilized by two different men in the same ovulation period.

When we see twins, we assume that they were conceived out of a single act of intercourse. But it’s possible for one egg to be fertilized first and the next one follows if the couple gets intimate more than once in a day. If this is possible, then it’s only logical to say that a woman can be impregnated by two men if she engages in an intercourse with both of them during her fertile period.

But keep in mind that not all non-identical looking twins have different fathers. In fact, one twin could look completely like the mother and the other could inherit the father’s genes.